Modi fears washout of NDA in Lok Sabha polls, says Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in fear mongering as the BJP-led NDA ‘faces washout’ in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls. The grand old party also criticised the Prime Minister for his political support to JD(S) Hassan candidate Prajwal Revanna, accused of sexually abusing women, and questioned Modi’s policy on “Mahila Samman”.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Why did Modi campaign for the Hassan video perpetrator? Is the BJP washing machine at full spin for Janardhan Reddy? …Instead of lying and fear mongering, these are the questions he should answer.”

Ramesh said the Hassan video has shocked the conscience of the nation. “Prajwal Revanna, a sitting ‘JD(S-anghi) MP’, has been accused of creating thousands of sexually explicit videos of women. The videos were then distributed by pen drive across the district, much to the distress of the victims, some of whom have attempted to take their own lives. The fact that these videos existed was known, an ex-MLA from Hassan had even written to his own party leadership stating that they shouldn’t support this MP. Rather than prioritising justice for the women, the NDA had systematically suppressed the scandal till polling. Why has Modi, so often delivering platitudes on ‘Mahila Samman’ and ‘Nari Shakti’, endorsed Prajwal Revanna despite being aware of his crimes?” Ramesh asked.

He also accused the BJP of giving clean chits to the accused in various scams and scandals. “On March 25th, Bellary Janardhan Reddy, accused in a `35,000 crore scam and with 20 criminal cases against him, joined the BJP. Is this another instance of the BJP washing machine slowing down or exempting BJP leaders from corruption investigations? Why did the Prime Minister take in a leader under investigation for corruption into the party?” Ramesh asked.

Meanwhile, responding to Modi’s attacks on the Congress over its leader Sam Pitroda’s ‘inheritance tax’ comments, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said the Prime Minister has imagined a Congress manifesto written by one of his ghost speech writers and he should debate the real issues included in the document.

“The Prime Minister continues to discover and read in the Congress’ manifesto words and sentences that are not there! He has imagined a Congress’ manifesto written by one of his ghost speech writers… The phrase ‘inheritance tax’ does not occur anywhere in the manifesto,” wrote Chidambaram on X.